Chapter 639: Chapter 467: Underlying Currents
He Yong: "She’s indeed not smart, but being too smart isn’t necessarily a good thing. The key is that she can make money for the company."
Yuh Jiangxing said: "Speaking of making money, notorious fame is still fame. She’s taking on those collaborations with sketchy products, earning a lot indeed. But, cousin, you have to consider my position too. Being an agent for such a person, there’s no future or development for me."
"Just hang in there for another two years, and by then you can train someone to take over," He Yong patted Yuh Jiangxing on the shoulder, saying, "I’ve just regained a firm foothold in this position, and Zhou Yun is already completely out of my control. If at this time Xu Siyao starts causing trouble or harboring other intentions, I’ll be facing hostility from all sides again."
Yuh Jiangxing said: "Cousin, actually I’ve taken a liking to a newcomer that I really want to nurture."
He Yong looked at him somewhat surprised.
Yuh Jiangxing smiled a bit sheepishly.
"I want to bring her under me to manage, is that okay?"
He Yong thought that this might be the real reason for Yuh Jiangxing’s visit today.
He asked, "Who?"
Yuh Jiangxing said: "Zhou Yilan."
He Yong was familiar with this newcomer.
She was the one he had signed from a dance school, originally planning to manage her personally.
Since Yuh Jiangxing had made the request, He Yong said: "You can manage her, but do you have a clear plan for her? How do you intend to develop her?"
Yuh Jiangxing said: "As a leading lady, of course. Her appearance is fresh and sweet, absolutely the type that men like."
He Yong reminded: "Men are not the main consumers in our industry."
Yuh Jiangxing said: "Having a gimmick to get famous first, once that’s achieved, everything else will be easy to handle. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Xu Siyao ruining everything herself, acting out of line and ruining her good hand, starting her career with ’Eighth Heartbeat’ and following Zhou Yun in ’Dingfengbo’, those two shows would have been enough to keep her going for five years. It’s her own brain that’s the problem, exposing the ugliest side of herself to everyone, now who doesn’t find her annoying when they see her."
"As long as you have a plan, that’s good. Write up a plan for Zhou Yilan for me to see, if there’s no issue, then I’ll transfer Zhou Yilan to you," He Yong said, "But one thing, no matter what and no matter how much you dislike Xu Siyao, you must keep her stable for me, make absolutely sure to monitor her every move."
Yuh Jiangxing nodded, "Don’t worry, cousin. Since this relates to you, I’ll definitely stand firm for you."
He Yong nodded.
"But, cousin, after this program airs, Xu Siyao’s reputation is going to stink even more," Yuh Jiangxing said, "the way she acted that day... trampled and dragged through the mud by Zhou Yun."
He Yong said: "Getting scolded is still a type of popularity, notorious fame is still fame. We’re in the era of ratings now."
"Got it," Yuh Jiangxing nodded.
Just at that moment, Zhou Yun and Zhou Lan walked by in front of them.
They didn’t notice them.
Yuh Jiangxing asked: "Cousin, is Zhou Yun’s contract expiring soon? Will it be renewed?"
He Yong shook his head, saying: "We haven’t formally discussed the matter yet, but even if she were to renew her contract with the company, the terms won’t be simple."
"That’s true. But Zhou Yun is really unusually lucky, in the circle, there’s no shortage of actresses prettier than her, or those with better acting skills, but two years on, she’s actually became a Movie Queen," Yuh Jiangxing remarked with wonder.
He Yong said: "This shows that she has the fortune on her side, the fate to be greatly successful and famous."
"What a pity that we didn’t sign her for a few more years in one go," Yuh Jiangxing said.
He Yong didn’t reply.
At the time, he certainly wanted to sign Zhou Yun for a few more years, but Zhou Yun was adamant and refused to budge, only agreeing to five years.
At that time, there were other agencies competing with him, and he truly saw potential in Zhou Yun, so in the end, he relented, accepting five years.
The fact has proved that his judgment was still sharp.
Whoever he took a bet on always became a hit.
...
Zhou Yun and Zhou Lan left the company.
"The program crew, I made a call over there, didn’t say it straight out, just asked as part of normal inquiries, about how the editing was coming along, and they told me it’s in progress,"
Zhou Lan said: "I’ve also snooped around top to bottom, and it’s a bit strange, not quite what I expected."
"What do you mean?" Zhou Yun asked, puzzled.
Zhou Lan said: "Logically, if they intended to edit the footage in that direction, there should at least be a consensus from top to bottom. The editors need to align, so the final product can have a unified style. But when I sent someone to investigate as an internal staffer, currently the editing room is still going about their work as usual, not deliberately edging you in a negative direction."
Zhou Yun: "Do you mean that the person who passed the message made a mistake? That there’s no such issue?"
"No," Zhou Lan shook her head and said: "The key point is that the director and the assistant director in charge of post-production have both been staying at the company these past few days, but they haven’t been overseeing the editing room as usual. The director might be excused, but even the assistant director responsible for post-production isn’t present there. According to what I’ve heard, they haven’t even reviewed the edits that have been cut timely, it’s just sitting there."
"Sister Lan, I don’t understand, what exactly does this mean?" Zhou Yun asked.
"I suspect that the director and the assistant director are secretly working with a few people on a Plan B version," Zhou Lan said, "Right now I’m not sure whether the top executives at Chestnut Video are aware of this Plan B, or if those two are planning to just fool everyone and swap what’s going to air. But I lean toward the latter. If Chestnut Video executives knew about this, there would be no need for such a pretense of having a group of people genuinely working on the editing."
Zhou Yun now understood Zhou Lan’s meaning.
"They dare to do this?"
"There’s no evidence yet; it’s just my deduction based on the clues obtained from my inquiries and investigation. But no matter what, I need to meet with the director," Zhou Lan said, "to probe his intentions on one hand, and on the other hand, to gauge his attitude."
"Wouldn’t that alarm him?"
"And what if it alarms him?" Zhou Lan said, "They are the ones who should be afraid and hiding in this situation."
Zhou Yun nodded.
"I’ll also hint about the video Xiaoju and the others filmed on set." Zhou Lan said, "If it’s confirmed that there’s such a Plan B version, and indeed they are secretly working on it themselves, then I’ll know how to act."
Zhou Yun agreed.
"You go back first, leave this to me."
Zhou Yun sighed and said: "What a mess, I never thought that just by participating in a show, such an issue would arise."
"Xu Siyao is not an easy one to handle," Zhou Lan said, "With such an issue at hand, the company should no longer think about using the excuse of publicity to make us cooperate with the production company and appear with Xu Siyao for promotions."